Boston Massacre

Boston Massacre engraved by Paul Revere.

Boston Massacre
42.363633°N 71.054066°W

The site of the Boston Massacre (marked by the circle on the pavement below the pedestrians).

On March 5th, 1770, British soldiers fired into an unarmed crowd killing five and wounding six others.

The crowd had gathered because a British soldier, Private Hugh White, on guard duty struck a young man named Edward Garrick with the butt of his musket for insulting a British officer. The scuffle drew a rather large crowd of about 50 people including Henry Knox, just 19 years old at the time, who warned White that if he killed anyone he would die for his actions. Knox later became a general in the revolutionary war.

Once the British got word of the incident, six privates and a non-commissioned officer were sent to support White. The soldiers took up defensive positions with loaded muskets and bayonets attached. The crowd continued to shout insults and throw items and snowballs at the soldiers taunting them to fire. Private Hugh Montgomery was struck by an object that knocked him to the ground. Witnesses state that Montgomery angrily stood and fired into the crowed which precipitated the rest of the soldiers firing.

Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre, called the Incident on King Street by the British, was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed five civilian men and injured six others. British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and harassment. He was eventually supported by eight additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and thrown objects. They fired into the crowd, without orders, instantly killing three people and wounding others. Two more people died later of wounds sustained in the incident.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston Massacre